Association between malnutrition exposure in early life and elevated atherogenic index of plasma in adulthood.

BACKGROUND

Research on the relationship between malnutrition exposure in early life and atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) in adulthood is limited and whether this association exists in the Chinese population is unknown. This study was aimed to explore whether early exposure to the Great Chinese Famine is associated with elevated AIP in adulthood using a nationally representative sample.

METHODS

2,864 participants were chosen from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study's 2011 national baseline survey, and all of them were categorized into preschool-exposed, infant-exposed, fetal-exposed, and non-exposed groups by birthdate. AIP was calculated by lg(TG/HDL-C). Logistic regression models were used to investigate the association between malnutrition exposure in early life and elevated AIP in adulthood. The influence of age difference was further reduced by using an age-balanced control group.

RESULTS

In comparison to the non-exposed group, the risk of elevated AIP in adulthood was higher in the fetal-exposed group (OR = 1.386, 95% CI: 1.073-1.791,  = 0.013). After considering for confounding variables, the fetal-exposed group still had a higher risk of elevated AIP in adulthood (OR = 1.887, 95% CI: 1.206-2.952,  = 0.005). Stratified analysis showed that the risk of elevated AIP in adulthood was higher in female participants (OR = 2.121, 95%CI: 1.163-3.867,  = 0.014) and participants from rural areas (OR = 1.786, 95%CI: 1.113-2.868,  = 0.016) in the fetal-exposed group. Similar associations were also observed taking the age-balanced control group as a reference.

CONCLUSION

Fetal exposure to malnutrition might be associated with higher risk of elevated AIP in adulthood, especially in the female population and people who lived in the rural areas, indicating that they might have higher risk of cardiovascular diseases. Special attention and targeted intervention are needed for those who have experienced malnutrition in the fetal period, and AIP is expected to be an indicator for monitoring metabolism-related diseases for them.